Holiday
by PorcupineDirectory
Summary: SPR are, guess what, on holiday! Well, until their fun making plans are ruined by a certain pink-haired lady and a new case... Please R&R. NaruxMai
1. Chapter 1

Holiday

Chapter 1 - Buried

The sun shone down from a blue sky over the coastal city. The girl laughed as the boy made a joke. They came to a crossroads, where their street crossed one of the main roads. They stopped, watching the traffic, waiting for the lights to change so they could continue. The cars slowed. They walked across the road.

Suddenly everything was noise, the world was upside down and she couldn't see anything. There were shouts, lights, something bearing down on them. Her brain froze in panic. The pain shot up her side, while he cried out as something hit his legs. They were on the floor, they were bruised, battered, lying broken on the warm tarmac.

Someone called an ambulance. He couldn't move, but he could see the empty blue sky, watching him. He heard the voices, speaking in animated Japanese. All he could think of was the girl, but he couldn't move to see her.

"Bachiko!" A woman called out. He saw large blue eyes regarding him curiously. Dark curls surrounded a round face. She must have been six or so. He tried to smile reassuringly at her, but couldn't. They regarded each other solemnly. Suddenly the little girl was snatched from his eye line, and as his vision blackened he remembered those large blue eyes filled with sadness neither of them could understand, and her name. Bachiko. His eyes closed, never to open again.

* * *

><p>Mai couldn't believe her luck. She stretched out in the hotel's bed, not wanting to get up.<p>

"Mai! We have things we're going to do today!" Ayako called.

"You sound like Naru." Mai murmured, but she detangled herself from the sheets anyway.

"Yeah, but Naru doesn't usually tell you to get a move on or else we'll never get to the beach on time!" Ayako yelled at her. Mai grinned.

That's right. You'd never believe it but SPR were officially on holiday. Well, it had taken a lot of persuading, and of course a case, to get Naru to take them to the coast. But the case was finished, and he'd promised them a few days more before heading back to Tokyo.

She dashed around, and in no time they were ready. They went downstairs and joined the others who were heartily tucking into breakfast.

"So, Naru-chan, you coming to the beach with us?" Monk asked, imagining the scene in his head. Somehow the pale teen looked somewhat out of place next to the sea. Naru shrugged.

"If you don't go outside you'll develop rickets." Yasuhara said seriously. Naru ignored him.

"And the fresh air's just good for you anyway." Ayako mused.

"Fine, I'll come." Naru snapped. A victorious look was shared around the table. Even Lin smiled.

And so Naru found himself lying on the beach with a book in hand, trying to read amongst the flocks of gulls cawing and children laughing and women chatting and the slap of men's sandals against the tarmac road.

There was a suppressed giggle. Naru frowned, but kept his focus on the book. That was until something cold and heavy landed on his legs. What the?

He twisted round, trying to see what was going on. Mai, Yasuhara, Ayako and Monk had dumped a load of sand on him and were busy piling more on.

"Naru, stop squirming." Yasuhara laughed. Naru glared at him.

"It's not going to work if he keeps moving." Monk sounded disappointed. Yasuhara clicked his fingers.

"Mai, sit on him!" Mai stood up and took a step, but then stopped when she realised what Yasuhara had said and that Naru's expression said she'd never see the light of day again if she continued. She hovered, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile Naru had dusted himself off and returned to his book.

"Jou-chan! You let him get away." Monk turned on her. Ayako and Yasuhara advanced too. Mai squeaked.

"In that case…" Ayako grinned evilly. Suddenly Mai was lying on her back and sand was already starting to cover her legs.

"Wait, stop it!" She cried out, trying to get up but Monk held her down. Twenty minutes later she was buried up to her neck in the cold sand, next to a smirking Naru. Monk, Ayako and Yasuhara were admiring their handiwork, having spent a while trying to shape a vaguely symmetrical mermaid tail.

"You look very nice." Yasuhara smiled.

"That's nice, but can you help me up now?" Mai asked. They shared a look.

"Sorry Mai…" And they ran off, leaving her there. She was not impressed, to put it mildly.

"You could at least have given me some shade!" She screamed after them. Yasuhara turned round and waved. She growled.

"Tea." Naru said absentmindedly turning a page. Mai glared at him. As if she could get him tea in her condition. He looked up and caught her eye, a fleck of amusement growing in his own.

"Could you help me please?" She begged, appealing to his better nature.

"No." Oh yeah, he didn't have one, Mai reminded herself bitterly, watching him start reading again. Somehow he was even better looking in the glittery light coming from the sea. The light breeze lifted his fine, dark hair so it gently blew against his face. His eyes looked a deeper, darker blue, and the light brought out flecks of grey and light blue. Sand had caught in his long eyelashes and perfectly shaped eyebrows.

They realised at the same moment that she was staring. His eyes flickered up to her face again, and she blushed and looked away, choosing to survey the beach rather than meet his gaze. She looked everywhere, and finally back at Naru, who was still watching her. He smirked then, and returned to his book.

"Jerk." She muttered.

"You were looking at me." He countered.

"No I-I was just…" She said, blushing madly. "Staring at the drinks van." She said desperately. Naru turned his head slightly. "I'm thirsty…" She said, feeling that some explanation was called for. Naru raised his eyebrows. He didn't believe her, but accepted it anyway.

"And anyway, you didn't have to make it awkward!" She said.

"I wasn't the one who was staring." He said, returning to his book again.

"I am really thirsty though, could I have some water?"

"Whatever."

"Okay, what I meant was, can you go and get me some water, seeing as I'm quite limited at the moment in what I can do." She said exasperatedly. Naru sighed, but book marked his page and got up. She watched him go.

"Mai-san?" Lin appeared, staring down at her.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Where's Naru?" He asked, completely bemused.

"Over there. Can you help me please?" She asked sweetly. Lin looked awkward.

"He's coming back, why don't you ask him?"

"I already have." She glared in Naru's general direction.

"And he said no." Lin sounded crestfallen.

"Here's your water." Naru said, placing it near the edge of the blanket. "Yes Lin?"

"Madoka called." He said, conveying something to Naru with a look.

"Naru, how am I supp-?"

"One minute Mai." He interrupted, before speaking quietly with Lin. He scowled, then nodded several times. Mai was sure she heard him muttering something about him seeing. Lin gestured towards her and then Naru frowned.

"Thanks Lin." He nodded and Lin left. Then he turned his attention to Mai.

"How am I supposed to drink it?" She exploded.

"I believe most people use their mouths."

"You don't say. Please, just undig me?" She begged. Naru sighed. He shifted the sand from her front and legs onto the beach next to her. She squirmed slightly and blushed as his cold hand accidentally (sure Naru…) brushed along her stomach. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled.

"Go get the others, I need to talk to all of you." He said, brushing himself off. Mai knew there was no point in asking him anything, he would shut his mouth like a clam and not speak until everyone was right in front of him.

"Hai!" She said and ran off. Naru watched her go with an unreadable face, and it was only when she was coming back that he realised he was staring.

"Madoka called." He started once everybody had arrived. "And she's asked us to take a case." He frowned. More like forced…

"Now?" Ayako asked.

"Yes. A man called Omura Ukito came to the office. His daughter is being haunted, and seeing as he lives in a village about 10 miles away from here she promised him we'd take it." He scowled.

"Ahh, so we're on holiday and doing work." Monk grumbled.

"Then we're not on holiday." Yasuhara frowned.

"We're supposed to be…" Monk sighed.

"We'll leave tomorrow." Naru said, turning back to his book. The others took that as a dismissal, and returned to the sea.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey!<br>I know, new story. I've got writers block, and this just popped into my head. It probably won't even work plotwise, as I'm not sure this could happen, but oh well XD**

**Anyway, thanks for reading this, please tell me what you think! ^^**

**-PorcupineDirectory-**


	2. Chapter 2

Holiday

The Lopsided House

Naru leaned against the van, his arms folded and his foot tapping. He looked up at the small, feminine figure making its way across the car park towards him.

"What took you so long?" He asked when she got closer. She looked sheepish.

"I got lost okay?" She huffed.

"No, it's not. We're now going to be 15 minutes late." He said with just a smattering of irritation hidden in his voice. He opened the door and they got in. Lin said nothing, assuming that she'd already been sufficiently told off by his charge.

"Can't we just… make it up on the road?" Mai, in hindsight, should have anticipated that this may not have gone down that well with Naru.

"We can't _just make it up on the road_ Mai; in case you hadn't realised there is some expensive equipment in here."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Naru, I'm too stupid to notice." She said sarcastically. "Surely just a bit quicker won't hurt?" And to that Naru didn't even bother to respond. Mai sighed. Yet again she was stuck with Mr Never-shuts-up on her right and Mr Friendly on her left. Luckily for her the journey only took about half an hour so she was only mildly bored by the time they arrived.

The house was very modern but not particularly attractive. It looked strangely tall and thin, especially as there was no other housing in sight. It was four floors, the top having a gently sloping roof which gave it a curiously lopsided look. Also the ground floor was bigger than the others. All in all, the house itself was rather ugly due to its strangeness, but the countryside surrounding it more than made up for that. They were in a field full of tall grasses and wild flowers which danced in the sea breeze, and beyond that the sea glistened and glittered.

"Stop gawping." Naru glared at her, indicating with his eyes that they had work to do. As they approached the house the door opened and a smiling woman appeared in the hole. They all bowed.

"As I told your colleagues my husband has not come back yet, but he did call. I have prepared your base for you. It's not large but it's the best we could do. But please, come in." She stepped out of the way. Lin waited for Mai (ahhh, he's so polite XD ) who obediently entered first.

Immediately she was confused, she didn't know where she was. She looked around but couldn't see anything, or maybe she could but her brain couldn't connect the pictures into anything she could understand. She panicked, her eyes wide with terror. There was a loud skidding noise, and the sound of metal grating against metal. Suddenly pain exploded in her side so she could barely breathe.

She gasped. She was on the floor, but she didn't remember how she got there. Slowly faces swam into focus. One was watching her with concern and a lost look, but she didn't recognise it. Naru's and Lin's faces were there too, but the one which was occupying most of her vision was the red headed priestess who was full of worried tenderness and bristling with anger at Naru, who she thought was always responsible for Mai's safety.

"Mai, speak to me. How do you feel?" She asked.

"My head _hurts_." Mai moaned. "And the floor's cold." She added as an afterthought.

"Could you get a glass of water?" Naru asked the woman she didn't recognise, who nodded and disappeared. She sat up slowly, her head swimming.

"You hit your head pretty badly, so it will probably be sore for a while, but other than that you're okay?" Ayako asked. She moved so she was supporting Mai.

"What happened?" Takigawa asked.

"I'm not sure… There was noise and I couldn't see anything, and then suddenly my side hurt." She frowned.

"Oh!" The woman said. They all turned to look at her. "Sorry, it's just my daughter says she keeps on having dreams like that. But she always wakes up when you did." She handed Mai the glass of water. SPR glanced at each other. Another latent psychic?

"I would like to speak to your daughter, is she in?" Naru asked.

"Not at the moment. She should be back in time for dinner. She likes to keep out of the house, she says it makes her feel uncomfortable. And what with it being the holidays she doesn't have any school to go to, so it affects her more."

"And when's dinner?"

"At seven."

Naru's face remained passive, but the group knew that he was annoyed at having to wait. There was a pause.

"We'll set up immediately." Naru said. He paused by Mai. "You can take the temperature readings with Matsuzaki-san." Mai nodded, and Lin, Takigawa and Naru left to carry in all the equipment.

"Do you need anything?" The woman asked. She was still regarding Mai uncertainly, apparently unsure whether to expect her to collapse again.

"No thanks, Omura-san." Ayako smiled at her. Suddenly Mai clicked. This was the woman who let them into the house, the wife of the man who had come to the office.

"I left the stuff in base." Ayako said to Mai. They stood up and left the room. Base was on the second floor, in what was the spare bedroom. The single bed had been pushed against the wall, and the chest of drawers and bed-side table had been removed, and what looked like a large garden table had been brought in. As had a couple of arm chairs and an office chair.

"Hey Mai. Naru-chan asked me, well ordered but yeah, to ask you, well order you, to put up the monitor racks." Takigawa popped his head round the door. Mai grumbled.

"I won't tell him that." He winked and handed her the poles and shelves. "Ciao!" He called as the door shut behind him. Mai scowled at the offending unassembled racks. Twenty minutes later Mai and Ayako glared at the racks with the most contempt they could muster.

"There's a bit missing." Ayako said decisively.

"There can't be!" Mai wailed. Today was not her day. "I've done this so many times, how can it be wrong?" Suddenly she felt the apprehension only a small person can feel when someone very tall stands right behind them.

"You've done this bit wrong, Taniyama-san." Lin pointed. Mai stared at it, utterly defeated. "I'll do it." He said, dismissing them. Mai and Ayako hurried out before he could change his mind.

"Just try and kill innocent civilians trying to walk along a corridor…" Takigawa said, as they whirled past him.

"The day you're innocent is the day I'm the queen of Sheba." Ayako called.

"You're a bit old to be queen of anywhere!" Monk shouted back.

"Shut it, Grandpa."

They wandered from room to room, recording temperatures. Luckily there weren't that many (compared to some cases) so they were done quite quickly, providing Naru with an early chance to send Mai to the kitchen for tea.

"Um, Omura-san? Is it okay if I use the kitchen to make tea?" Mai asked.

"Oh, yes that's okay."

"Are you sure? I'll probably make loads of cups a day…" Mai trailed off when she realised she was peering at something behind her. Mai turned, to find a large window. Coming along the road/track was a girl who looked her age, holding the hand of a girl of about 6.

"Wow she's pretty." Mai breathed. She could already feel the light tug of jealousy on her heart.

"Thanks." Mrs Omura looked proud of her daughter. A few moments later the girl was knocking at the front door. Mrs Omura went to get it, and Mai tagged along behind her. She watched as they hugged. Suddenly the girl spotted Mai.

"This is my daughter Bachiko, and this is my other daughter Kaori. Girls, this is Mai. She's here with that group I told you about."

"Hey." Bachiko smiled at Mai, who grinned back. However Kaori hung back, sheltering behind her mother's legs.

"Didn't that young man want to have a word with Bachiko?"

"Yeah… he's my boss." Mai explained to Bachiko. "Would you mind?" She asked.

"No…"Bachiko sounded unsure though. Mai lead her upstairs to the spare room, chatting lightly all the way, but she didn't answer much. She looked quite apprehensive.

"It's alright, Naru's just going to ask you some questions. He doesn't bite." Mai smiled encouragingly.

"Naru?"

"Oh yeah. He's my boss. Actually his name's Shibuya Kazuya, but I gave him the nick-name Naru. It's short for narcissist. I mean-!" Mai started, aware that she probably wasn't giving her the best impression. "I mean, he's not really but at the time… I'm talking too much, aren't I?" Bachiko nodded.

"Well, this is us. Takigawa Houshou, Matsuzaki Ayako, Lin Koujo and Kazuya Shibuya." Mai pointed to each person in turn. "We also have John Brown and Hara Masako, but they're not here yet. We've arranged for them to come tomorrow. And Yasuhara Osamu."

"Er, right…" Bachiko said, concentrating as Mai spoon fed her information that she knew she wasn't going to remember.

"Everyone, this is Bachiko!" Mai finished cheerfully. "Would you like a seat?" She proffered on of the arm chairs.

"Mai, despite being late you still haven't brought me any tea." Naru reprimanded her. He didn't take kindly to strangers entering base if they were going to excite Mai, especially when the stranger had been brought at the expense of his tea.

Mai's face fell. "I'll be right back." She promised before darting out. Naru sighed, settling his papers before turning his attention to the girl in front of him.

"Could you describe how you are being haunted?" He asked, blunt as always.

"Er… I always have the same dream every night but I can't work out what it's of."

"Ah, Mai's vision!" Takigawa said, nodding sagely. Naru glared at him.

"And there's this…" She held her hands out. They were covered in burn marks, and there was one red and swollen patch on her knuckle of her left hand. "Every time I try to cook something the cooker flame… expands and I get burnt. And…" She held her arm out. There was a long thin scar from her wrist to her elbow. "I don't know how it happened. I tripped and fell down the stairs, and I must have hit my head because I don't remember anything, but when I woke up I had this cut."

"Has anything happened to anyone else?"

"My mum was burnt once, but that was because she was standing next to me when the hob flame exploded. Apart from that nothing."

"And when did these start?"

"Um, the first thing was about 5 years ago. But recently they've been getting more frequent."

Naru thought about this for a bit, while Bachiko looked at him uncertainly and glanced round at the others. "Do you know why?" He asked.

"No." She shook her head. "Sorry," she added. Yet again Naru relapsed into thought.

"Is that it? Can I go?"

"Yes."

"So, Naru-chan, what do you think?" Takigawa asked as soon as she was out the door.

"What?"

"About the ghost."

"It seems dangerous. We should protect Omura-san, so someone is with her at all times. Apart from that there is little we can do today. We'll wait until Yasuhara and Hara-san get here."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2! That was quite quick, for me anyway. <strong>

**Thanks to readers, and of course reviewers! **

**-PorcupineDirectory-  
><strong>


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